Chapter 817: A Hole
A world called Heaven.
There might be information there that could help me.
But.
‘I don’t like those guys either.’
I did not like that place at all.
And so.
“I want to keep using this as a last resort if possible.”
This was not simply a matter of how I felt.
Even when I thought about it calmly, I reached the same conclusion.
‘I know almost nothing about this place called Heaven.’
It was the same even when I asked those who seemed like they might know at least a little, such as Mirinae.
Even those demons, who possessed powers more specialized than anyone else’s for infiltrating other worlds, said they did not know what was inside.
There was probably no being more capable of peering into other worlds than those demons, so trying to obtain information about the inside from the outside would be meaningless.
‘Dropping alone into the middle of beings I know nothing about, without even knowing whether they still feel favorably toward me?’
That was neither courage nor anything of the sort.
It was absurd recklessness.
A pure gamble that relied on luck without any basis whatsoever.
If that truly became the only method left, taking the gamble might not be a bad idea.
But it was something that should only be chosen at the very last moment.
And this was not yet that final moment.
Because.
“That’s why I came to you.”
The foresight originating from my spirituality.
Because that foresight had been pointing to this place.
“.......”
After hearing me, Sergeant Park Taejun folded his arms and sank into thought.
And then.
“......Like I said. My foresight can no longer compare to yours.”
“Probably not.”
“And you came to me despite knowing that, is what you’re saying.”
When my foresight had first pointed here, I too could not help but find it strange.
Because I had no idea what sort of solution Sergeant Park Taejun’s ability could possibly provide in this situation.
‘But not anymore.’
Now that he was standing before me, I felt certain.
The foresight within me.
No, my intuition was clearly shouting.
‘This guy is a soldier of our unit, an officer of the Legion.’
He was someone who had always been of great help whenever our unit had to make an important decision.
Even if his lack of combat ability meant he had focused on supporting us from the rear.
Back in our unit days, he had been treated as the ace over even me.
“......Actually.”
And naturally.
Even if his ability had been surpassed by mine.
“I do have one guess as to why you came to me.”
There was no way he would have simply sat still and done nothing.
“When the first barrier opened and I began sensing the gazes in the sky, my foresight gave me a reading that it would soon become useless...... something like that.”
He spoke with a frown.
“I knew that situation was coming, so I couldn’t just sit there blankly and do nothing.”
“So?”
“I researched ways to use my ability in a different direction. And...... only recently, I managed to obtain a small result.”
But.
He scratched his head, looking somewhat uncertain.
“The problem is that it really is only a small result. To be honest, it is still at the experimental stage, and I have never properly used it myself. Naturally, there is no guarantee it will work. Sorry if this sounds weak...... but this is also similar to the gamble you were talking about.”
“No, it isn’t.”
“Hmm?”
Whatever existed in Heaven was something unknown to me.
Throwing myself straight into their midst was unquestionably a gamble.
But I spoke with certainty.
“This isn’t a gamble.”
The reason was simple.
‘I don’t know anything about Heaven, but I know this guy.’
I did not know exactly what sort of power it would be.
But it was a power newly obtained by none other than Sergeant Park Taejun.
And if it was the man I knew.
‘He would never do anything pointless.’
If it was something done through him, then it was not a gamble.
Even if there was a chance of failure just as there was in gambling.
If I had entrusted something to a person I trusted, then that was not what one called a gamble.
“......Just as you said, there must be a limit to the power that can still be obtained within this land.”
When I spoke with certainty.
He thought for a moment, then opened his mouth and rose to his feet.
“In that case, the answer must ultimately be found outside.”
“......?”
“Follow me.”
And then.
Leaning on his crutch, he began walking and said.
“I’ll send you [outside].”
***
I followed him outside.
Sergeant Park Taejun moved with unsteady steps while leaning on his crutch.
He left the lounge inside the radar facility, then left the radar room itself.
Soon, he passed beyond the base’s mountain gate and went completely outside the mountain base.
“How far are we going?”
“Well, just follow me.”
His leg had been treated considerably, but it was still uncomfortable all the same.
Yet despite that discomfort.
He left the paved base and headed into the middle of the mountain.
He veered off onto the mountainside, where there was not even a path.
‘When he said he would take me outside, he couldn’t have meant this place.’
His class was [Astronomer].
Inside that base were all sorts of shamanistic devices designed to assist his abilities.
Since he was leaving all of those devices behind and heading outside, I could not help but find it strange.
Perhaps he noticed my confusion.
“The stars my class, [Astronomer], originally observed were the stars of our universe.”
Reading the movement of the stars and glimpsing the workings of heaven.
That was what his class, Astronomer, did.
But.
“When the sky opened, we became connected to another universe beyond this one.”
The workings of heaven he had glimpsed belonged to our world.
The stars he had observed were probably also the movements of the celestial bodies we had learned about in science class.
“That was when I realized it. For the time being, we were not yet completely connected to the outside, so I could still read the workings of heaven to some extent. But if it opened any further, then from that point onward, observing the stars of our world would lose much of its meaning. Their destiny would already have been greatly distorted by interference from outside.”
“......So?”
“If that was the case, then instead.”
There was no meaning in continuing to observe the celestial bodies he had previously watched.
And his class was Astronomer.
A class that observed the movements of stars.
Then.
“I decided to observe the stars outside.”
There was no need for him to observe only the stars inside.
He decided to observe what lay outside.......
The stars within the empty universe.
Other worlds and the beings outside.
‘This guy perceived the gazes of the beings outside.’
And if he had seen the gazes they directed toward this place.
Then conversely, he could turn his own gaze toward them and look at the one sending that gaze.
“So? Did you see something in those worlds?”
“No.”
“......Huh?”
“The walls of other worlds were too thick. Unless their walls were riddled with holes like ours, it was impossible to see inside.”
“......What about that thing where you interpret the movements of celestial bodies?”
“That was the same. I tried to interpret them in my own way...... but I could not interpret them through my own will. I once nearly had my mind destroyed by a being inside while trying to interpret them incorrectly.”
“......Then did you fail?”
“Well, as far as seeing other worlds goes, I would have to say I definitely failed. But.”
Even while talking about a failure in which he had clearly experienced some great danger.
He soon grinned.
“I did learn very well...... what sort of holes they use to look at us.”
“......?”
And at that very moment.
I noticed something strange.
‘This place.......’
At some point after following him quite a distance down the mountain.
The surrounding mountain trail had been heavily torn up.
The nearby trees were broken, and the ground was strangely compacted.
It was, how should I put it.
‘......It feels like a natural hiking trail formed by many people passing through.’
That made no sense.
This was a military security zone where a military base was located.
Ordinary civilians could not enter, and even if one or two people occasionally slipped inside in secret.
Traces like these...... could only be formed if a truly enormous number had passed through.
“I’m only asking now, but you.”
And while I was looking at those traces in confusion.
He looked at me and spoke.
“Where do you think the lizards came from?”
“......Huh, what?”
“What, don’t tell me you forgot? The lizards. The monsters that first attacked our base. The ones that left my leg like this.”
“......Ah.”
Of course I could not have forgotten.
What happened back then still appeared in my nightmares from time to time.
“Where they came from...... I don’t know exactly.”
I had never exactly held a conversation with them, so it could not be helped.
But it was not as though I had no guesses.
“They were probably refugees too.”
“Refugees?”
“They had a home world of their own. After that world was destroyed for some reason...... only those who remained were thrown out into the empty universe. They probably drifted through that universe and flowed into our world the moment a hole opened in it.”
At those words.
He shrugged and said.
“Well, that is also a correct answer.”
“......Also?”
“It isn’t wrong. But it is slightly different from the answer I mean. And.......”
A mountain trail that seemed as though many beings had passed through it.
Perhaps because that made it much easier to walk.
“The answer I mean is this.”
He confidently stepped forward, planted his crutch into the ground, and said.
“Here.”
“......Don’t tell me.”
And only then.
I understood what he was trying to say.
“Right here.”
It was the place where the signs of destruction were greatest.
A place where enormous traces remained, clearly left by something huge and countless beings passing through.
And the reason those traces remained was simple.
“The lizards...... came out from here.”
Monsters several meters tall, with scales as hard as steel.
Hundreds, thousands of them...... had poured out from this very place.
“One day, a hole opened in our world. Those monsters entered this world through that hole.”
“......!”
“But until now, we had never once seen that hole.”
At first, we thought Gates might be those holes, but they were not.
Gates were fragments of worlds.
Not every monster drifted through the empty universe together with a fragment of its own world.
“The reason was simpler than expected. That hole could not be seen with ordinary sight.”
The hole through which beings from outside worlds had flowed in.
The very hole through which beings outside observed our world.
“When I realized that fact, I thought.”
In other words.
......A hole connected to the outside, to the empty universe.
“It is merely invisible. The hole through which the monsters invading this world entered must exist somewhere in this world.”
Soon, even my eyes began to see something.
Something extremely transparent, rippling in the air.
“When the monsters inside a Gate came outside, we entered that Gate and were able to discover fragments of a destroyed world inside.”
Sergeant Park Taejun reached his hand toward that something.......
“Then what about the hole?”
“......Don’t tell me.”
“The monsters that came from the empty universe. What if we find the hole they entered through?”
At that very moment.
FWAAAAAAAAAAAAASH!!!
A tremendous wind raged.
It felt similar to when a hole suddenly opened in an airplane flying high in the sky.
A fierce wind howled, and I felt an enormous pull trying to drag me somewhere.
“They came to our world through that hole.”
With his crutch driven into the ground to resist the wind.
Sergeant Park Taejun grinned and said.
“Then couldn’t we also use that hole...... to go outside?”
And before him.......
“If you cannot find the answer inside, then you have no choice but to go [outside].”
“.......”
“If that is what must be done.”
A black hole rippling darkly.
......A place where the beings outside were likely lying in wait.
“I’ll make that path for you.”
A path leading to the [Empty Universe] had taken shape.